Minister urges women to excel in sports

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Fawad Hasan Fawad has called on the women folks to make every effort to excel in sports as they have every right to adopt the game of their choice.

Talking to media on the sidelines of futsal final organised by National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) here at the Jinnah Sports Complex, Fawad urged the emerging woman athletes to take all possible steps to follow sports.

“Adopting a sport of their choice is a genuine right of woman athletes and that should be honoured. There is also a need to improve existing sports facilities especially for women.” The minister was critical of the Normalization Committee’s (NC) failure to hold Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) elections in four years’ time.

“The NC instead of holding elections got involved in petty politics. I have written a letter to the FIFA president calling on him to ensure the transition of power to the elected PFF by March 15. The NC’s role has been far from satisfactory. On the contrary its presence has proved counterproductive for football promotion in the country.”

The minister admitted that a lot has to be done to develop sports infrastructure in the country.

“We need far better infrastructure for every sport barring cricket.”

Earlier, Karachi grabbed the gold medal beating Quetta and Chitral at a futsal tournament organised by NCHR.

Karachi produced dazzling display in the first two matches beating Chitral 6-0 and Quetta Hazara with 1-0, getting the honours on scoring highest points to emerge champions. In the run for second and third position, the match between Quetta and Chitral was a tie with both scoring one goal each. On penalty kicks, Quetta edged Chitral 3-2 in an exciting finish. Both the sides made some fine attempts to secure the lead but were thwarted by the rival goalkeepers. Karachi stayed as the superior side all through and sealed the points by winning matches from Quetta and Chitral.

The event also featured a penalty goal scored by Emaan, a visually impaired girl representing special children at the match. Her appearance received tremendous applause from the audience. The futsal tournament was organised by NCHR with the support of Canada Fund for Local Initiatives, as part of commission’s unique four-month long initiative “Empower Her,” aimed at promoting girls’ participation in sports.

The futsal tournament was the culmination of “Empower Her,” a campaign supported by Canada Fund for Local Initiatives, and included training camps, tournaments, mentoring sessions and panel discussions.